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    Napoleon
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    Napoleon
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    Napoleon
    Audiobook5 hours

    Napoleon

    Written by Paul Johnson

    Narrated by John Lee

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    From New York Times bestselling author Paul Johnson, "a very readable and entertaining biography" (The Washington Post) about one of the most important figures in modern European history: Napoleon Bonaparte

    In an ideal pairing of author and subject, the magisterial historian Paul Johnson offers a vivid look at the life of the strategist, general, and dictator who conquered much of Europe. Following Napoleon from the barren island of Corsica to his early training in Paris, from his meteoric victories and military dictatorship to his exile and death, Johnson examines the origins of his ferocious ambition. In Napoleon's quest for power, Johnson sees a realist unfettered by patriotism or ideology. And he recognizes Bonaparte's violent legacy in the totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century. Napoleon is a magnificent work that bears witness to one individual's ability to work his will on history.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMar 27, 2002
    ISBN9781415911860
    Unavailable
    Napoleon
    Author

    Paul Johnson

    Paul Johnson is a historian whose work ranges over the millennia and the whole gamut of human activities. He regularly writes book reviews for several UK magazines and newspapers, such as the Literary Review and The Spectator, and he lectures around the world. He lives in London, England.

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    Reviews for Napoleon

    4/5

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    • 5/5
      Paul Johnson’s “Napoleon” a Penguin Life is an excellent extended treatise of the life, career and ramifications of Napoleon Bonaparte. Mr. Johnson does a truly superb job of not only describing Bonaparte’s roots, upbringing and idiosyncrasies but also his effect on the lives of those soldiers on the field during the Napoleonic Wars and the lives of soldiers and citizens in the late 19th century and beyond. Mr. Johnson explains rather succinctly how Bonaparte was the model for many of the state despots that were to turn their ugly heads in the 20th century, how they took the blueprint Bonaparte set down and ran with it. What I would have enjoyed were some pictures of many of the artistic Napoleonic inspired items Mr. Johnson speaks of but here I am simply splitting hairs.
    • 4/5
      I've loved the concept of this Penguin Lives series (now ongoing with a different publisher) since it started -- match excellent writers with worthy subjects, and keep it relatively short. It's a nice way to read a biography without investing the kind of time a lot of giant tomes require. I'd been reading a lot of novels set in Napoleonic times recently and wanted to learn more about the man behind such conflict. I had a little trouble getting into this book at first -- perhaps because it is so short, it seemed Johnson was summing things up with a very broad brush. But I rated it four stars because of a section near the end where he explains the unintended consequences of Napoleon's actions as well as the cause of his ultimate defeat -- the forging of different ethnic groups into nations (especially Germany) and the awakening cultural cohesion of the north (Germany again). It's definitely worth reading, especially if you've been reading Patrick O'Brian and the like and are curious about the man that so many spent so long trying to vanquish.
    • 3/5
      Broad picture of a maniac. Seemed to presume a fair amount of foreknowledge. Loved the final sentence. "We have to learn again the central lesson of history: that all forms of greatness, military and administrative, nation and empire building, are as nothing--indeed are perilous in the extreme--without a humble and contrite heart."